Miss Universe Winners Who also Topped the Swimsuit Competition

Today’s blogpost focuses on the elite few Miss Universe winners who also topped the swimsuit competition.

Back in the days, the lady who earns the highest swimsuit scores during the final night is given a special prize by the swimsuit sponsors (back in the 90’s it was Jantzen). I remember in Miss Universe 1994, Minorka Mercado (Venezuela) and Rea Tounzi (Greece) were given special citation for topping the swimsuit competition. Rea had the highest swimsuit scores during the preliminary swimsuit contest while Minorka topped the swimsuits during the finals. Neither ladies ended up with the crown but Minorka was close placing 3rd overall…
MISS UNIVERSE WINNERS WHO ARE ALSO BEST IN SWIMSUIT
1. Philippines’ Gloria Diaz – Miss Universe 1969 (18th Edition)
2. Thailand’s Porntip Nakhirunkanok – Miss Universe 1988 (37th Edition)
3. USA’s Chelsi Smith – Miss Universe 1995 (44th Edition)
4. Venezuela’s Alicia Machado – Miss Universe 1996 (45th Edition)
5. Trinidad & Tobago’s Wendy Fitzwilliam – Miss Universe 1998 (47th Edition)
6. India’s Lara Dutta – Miss Universe 2000 (49th Edition)
7. Puerto Rico’s Denise Quiñones – Miss Universe 2001 (50th Edition)
8. Russia’s Oxana Fedorova – Miss Universe 2002 (51st Edition)
9. Dominican Republic’s Amelia Vega – Miss Universe 2003 (52nd Edition)
10. Japan’s Riyo Mori – Miss Universe 2007 (56th Edition)

When the Miss Universe removed the televised scores, there was no longer a way to check whomever topped the swimsuit competition. However when the televised scores were on its last 3 years (2008-2010), it’s interesting to note that 1st runner up winners Yendi Phillips & Taliana Vargas topped the swimsuit competitions in 2008 & 2010 respectively and 3rd runner up Rachael Finch got the highest scores in 2009.